Revel: Twelve Dancing Princesses Retold (Romance a Medieval Fairytale Book 4)

by Demelza Carlton

  Kun seemed to consider for a moment, before she nodded. "We have a bargain. Cast your spell, and the man will be at the Summer Palace on the morrow."

  The spell was surprisingly simple, shimmering across the cloth like so many stars. Yet when Kun donned the cloak, it hid her completely.

  "That will do," Kun said, appearing again as she shrugged off the cloak, which was so long it pooled in the floor around her.

  Outside, the rhythmic blows of an axe biting into wood pierced the stillness.

  "Good to hear him hard at work," Kun said, jerking her chin in the direction of the yard.

  "Tomorrow. You promised," Bianca said, feeling her heart beating fast. It must be the surprise at hearing axe blows, she told herself. Not the prospect of sharing the Summer Palace with Vasco. Why, she barely knew the man.

  "I will hold up my end of the bargain. Ancestors help him if you don’t keep up yours, though. He will need all the help he can get," Kun replied.

  "I'm sure he'll succeed where the others failed," Bianca said, trying to sound more confident than she felt. He had to. Summoning a satisfied smile, she strode out of the cottage, covered her fair skin from the sun, and rode home.

  That night, she could scarcely sleep from excitement. But finally she did, only to dream of ravens wheeling in a sky of invisible stars.

  Fifteen

  This time when Vasco climbed down from the roof, he felt the weariness of the long day's work. But a good day's work. A good week's work, truth be told. He had repaired walls, replaced beams, and Kun's cottage now had a completely new roof. She also had a year's worth of firewood – the remains of the trees Vasco had cut down which had been suitable for nothing but burning. And yes, he'd chop that into suitable lengths for her, too.

  He hadn't quite shaken that prickly feeling of being watched, but he'd learned to ignore it. Kun spent most of her time in her cottage, not outside it watching him, and as he'd seen no one else, he concluded that his watchers must be birds. For what novelty could there be in a man rebuilding a house, except for the woman who lived there?

  He paused to wash his face in the water butt, and only then did he hear voices. He listened hard, for more than once he had heard Kun talking to herself. No, this was definitely two voices and only one of them was Kun's. The visitor must have arrived while he'd been working on the roof, too busy to notice her arrival.

  Not wishing to disturb Kun and her visitor, he peeped through the window. Kun sat at the table, pouring tea, but the visitor had her back to the window. In the dimly lit cottage, all he could see of the visitor was her white hair, carefully braided into one long queue that hung down her back, contrasting with her dark cloak.

  Another old woman, he concluded. He debated whether to go and introduce himself, in the hope that Kun's friend might have more work to keep him busy for another week or two. For Kun could not complain about his diligence or even his appetite. Vasco was a hard worker and he knew it. Perhaps it would be better to demonstrate that to the guest, rather than going into the cottage and interrupting their conversation. He headed to the chopping block, where there were still some logs uncut. He had planned to leave them for the morrow, but he was not so tired that he could not cut them now. Levering the axe out of the chopping block where he'd left it that morning, he set to work.

  Vasco soon fell into a rhythm, turning one log into suitable pieces for an old woman to carry, before chipping a pile of kindling. He piled his handiwork up in the woodshed before starting on the next.

  When the door opened and Kun's visitor emerged, Vasco almost dropped his axe in surprise. In the bright sunlight, her hair appeared a pale gold, not white at all. She moved like a much younger woman then Kun, with her straight back and a pert toss of her head as she stepped out fully.

  When Vasco saw her face, the axe fell from his nerveless fingers. This time, he didn't notice. He had eyes only for the fair maiden before him. He had never seen a girl with such fair skin, paler even than her hair. Pink lips and bright eyes, separated by a small, pointed nose, and all lit up with a satisfied smile. A smile that would haunt his dreams for the rest of his life, he was certain. He had only a moment more to stare at the vision before him, before she pulled her hood up, and her face vanished from sight in the depths of her cloak. She mounted a horse Vasco had not seen until now, waved a pale hand at Kun, before urging her mount into a trot.

  The moment she disappeared through the trees, Vasco felt the most powerful sense of loss. It was almost like losing his village all over again.

  "Put your eyes back in your sockets, boy," Kun snapped. "You look like a fool who has never seen a pretty girl before."

  Vasco found his voice. "I have seen pretty girls before," he said slowly. "But never a creature as beautiful as her." He swallowed. "Who is she?"

  Kun cackled. "That is Princess Bianca." She paused as if to let her statement sink in before she continued, "She is one of the king's daughters who lives at the Summer Palace. She is kind enough to come and visit an old lady, and bring me supplies from the palace kitchens." She eyed him speculatively. "But the princess has not come to visit me since you arrived, perhaps scared away by the hulking brute of a soldier. A pity, for you have not tasted palace food. As it is, I was running low on well-nigh everything until she arrived."

  Vasco hung his head. "If I have outstayed my welcome, then I shall depart. Your house is repaired, as promised, and I hope I have earned my board and lodging. If you know of anywhere else I might be of service –"

  Kun waved him into silence. "Don't be silly, boy. If you had eaten every crumb in my larder, it would be a good bargain for the new house and barn you have built for me. And I might be able to suggest further employment for you, especially if you are interested in seeing the princess again."

  Vasco was afraid to meet her eyes. "I would dearly love to see such beauty again, but I fear she is too high for me. Just a glimpse will leave me distracted from my work all day." He cleared his throat. "I had thought to ask at the palace whether they have need of more guards, but now I am certain of it. A palace that keeps such treasures as that princess within its walls can never have enough guards."

  Kun smiled faintly. "I don't know about guards, but I do know of one problem the king has with keeping so many princesses in the palace. He has a mystery he wants solved. And any man who can solve this for him will be richly rewarded."

  "Will the king provide a lowly soldier with a bed and a meal while he solves this mystery?" Vasco asked.

  Kun laughed. "I believe so."

  "Then what can you tell me about this mystery?" Vasco asked.

  Kun raised her eyebrows. "You ask about the mystery and not the reward? You are a strange man."

  Vasco shrugged. "There is no reward unless I can solve the mystery. And if I have a place to eat and sleep, I have little else to worry about."

  "Then come inside, for royal mysteries are best discussed over tea and cakes from the palace kitchens." Kun beckoned him inside, and Vasco followed.

  Sixteen

  Bianca paced along the lakeshore while she waited impatiently for her sisters to wake or for Vasco to arrive. She hadn't cared about any of the previous adventurers, but she wanted to speak to him. To see if he truly was different from the others, like Kun had said.

  The sun had already started to sink by the time a maid finally came to tell her that her sisters were awake.

  Bianca thanked the girl, then added, "Do you know if any visitors have arrived?"

  The girl frowned and shook her head. "No, mistress."

  Surely Kun wouldn't have broken her bargain, would she? They had a deal. A bargain between two witches wasn't to be broken lightly, Bianca knew. But the day wasn't over yet. Perhaps Kun had kept Vasco for one more day to finish working on her roof, and he needed daylight to work. It might be dark by the time her arrived at the palace, if there was a lot of work to do.

  In the meantime, she would find out all she could from her sisters, Bianca decided. She headed inside,
and found her sisters seated in the dining hall, breaking their fast, though it was well into the afternoon.

  Bianca slid into an empty spot on the bench. "Good day," she began.

  A chorus of mumbled responses came back to her.

  Bianca hid a smile. They really had just awoken. "I've been wondering for a while now, and I must ask. Why the pile of shoes at the door every morning? I have lost count of the number of times I have tripped over them."

  A few of the girls shared smiles, and Brenna laughed. She set her dog down on the floor with a bowl of food she'd selected from the table for the animal. "You mean the shoes we have all danced to pieces?"

  Bianca nodded. "They do look quite worn. I wonder why you would keep shoes in such a state."

  Hazel laughed. "We don't keep them. We pile them up so that the servants can throw them on the refuse heap, and Cousin Efe will have new shoes made to replace them. He's been sending up new shoes for you, though you haven't danced at all since you arrived."

  "I don't dance," Bianca said, ducking her head. She reached for a piece of bread.

  "But you must," Aruna exclaimed. "Tonight, you will come with us. I promise you, you will feel like the most graceful dancer in the world once you have the right partner."

  A vision of Vasco popped into Bianca's head, and she blushed. "The right partner?" she echoed, trying to rid her mind of the thought of Vasco holding her in his arms.

  "Oh, yes," Nera gushed. "Just wait until you see – "

  A masculine cough interrupted her. All the girls fell silent.

  Efe stepped into the room with a simpering smile on his face. "My dear princesses, may I present Lord Vasco?"

  Lord Vasco? Bianca choked.

  Seventeen

  Princesses who danced their shoes to pieces? And a king who was so insistent upon knowing why that he would hire a man just to solve the mystery of the worn shoes?

  Even as Vasco trudged up the road to the palace, away from the comfort of Kun's cottage, he shook his head in disbelief. He had seen the town of shoemakers, so he knew there was some truth in these princesses who wore out shoes faster than a soldier wore out boots, but there had to be more to this mystery than first appeared.

  Why else would Kun have given him so much advice? She'd told him to refuse any food or wine that the princesses themselves did not consume. If he wanted to know what the girls did at night, he must enter their bedchamber before the door was locked – as though he dared enter a princess's bedchamber! Yet she'd told him to hide there, and wear the new cloak she'd given him, as though the black wool would conceal him completely in what would surely be a well-lit chamber. And to top it all off, she'd said he only had three days in which to solve the mystery, so if he ran into difficulties, he was to approach Princess Bianca, the pale beauty he'd espied at Kun's cottage, and ask her for help. As if such a highborn princess would stoop to assist someone as worthless as him.

  But Kun had insisted, and he had repeated all of her advice, until she was satisfied that he remembered it all. Still, he didn't trust what he'd heard, so instead of approaching the front entrance as Kun had told him to, Vasco skirted the building until he found the servants' entrance, and knocked there, instead.

  The maid who answered the door wore a dress far finer than anything the women in Vasco's village had ever owned. For a moment, his voice died in his throat as he wondered if he'd somehow arrived at a private entrance to the princesses' quarters instead.

  Vasco's hands tightened around the hat he held level with his belt. "I came seeking work, and an old woman down the road told me the master of this house might have need of a man."

  The girl's eyes held sympathy as she shook her head. "There is no position here that I know of. We are but a small household. I don't know why Mistress Kun would send you here. She of all people knows…" She swallowed. "Unless she sent you here to solve the mystery?"

  Vasco gave a nod. "She did mention a mystery."

  "Are you sure?" the girl asked. "You will only have three days, and no one else has managed to solve it in that time. You aren't like the others…"

  The others being princes and lords, noblemen who were accustomed to being in the presence of princesses, Vasco assumed. Not common soldiers like him. Yet Kun had been confident he could do this thing.

  "I must try," he said finally. "I have nothing else. No home, no family, and nothing to occupy me once the army had finished with me. Unless you can point me to somewhere else where I might find work, this is the only employment for miles around."

  Now she looked almost pitying. "I understand. What is your name, soldier?"

  "Vasco," he answered.

  "I'm Gerel," she said. "I will tell the Lord Steward you are here. If there is no other suitor, he will introduce you to the princesses and you will be in their company for three days until you solve the mystery or are banished from this place. But…if you wish for company, or more plain fare than is served in the dining hall, or if the Lord Steward will not see you, I pray you will come to the kitchen. There will be a place for you at our table, for anyone who can tell us about what goes on outside the estate is welcome. We are very isolated here."

  As isolated as his own village before it was wiped out, Vasco thought, though he couldn't bring himself to say the words aloud. Not to this pretty maid who had probably never seen any sort of violence in her life, much like the princesses she served. Gerel deserved to marry one of the manservants of the house and live in the shelter of such a great house, birthing babies who would grow to replace her in service once they were old enough. A life, a home and a living, with parents who would live until old age with such security. What more could anyone ask for?

  It was more than Vasco could ever expect now, he told himself. A quick glance told him Gerel was still waiting for an answer. "Tell the Lord Steward I seek work. If he turns me away, then I will gladly enjoy your hospitality for a night, and tell you all I know of battles in the borderlands." He would have to censor his tale, and make the men sound more heroic than they truly were, he knew, but it wouldn't be the first time. No one wanted to hear stories of blood and death and tragedy, tainted by the darkness in his own head. If it would fill his belly for a night and perhaps the next day, he would spin tales of heroes so that those who had died in blood and pain might be remembered as more than they were in life. Perhaps it would even ease the spirits of those he had fought with, only to lose them to a stray arrow or well-placed spear.

  Gerel pushed the door open wider, and beckoned him in. "Come sit in the kitchen while you wait. Cirina, the cook, will make you some tea, and maybe spare you a cake before they are sent up to the dining hall for the princesses."

  To his surprise, Cirina soon had him ensconced on a seat by the fire, tea in one hand and cake in the other. Vasco hoped that Gerel was wrong and there would be a place for him in this household. He hadn't seen a single guard yet, and he didn't understand it. Surely princesses needed protection.

  "The Lord Steward will see you now," Gerel said.

  Vasco hurried to swallow his mouthful of cake. "Are you sure?"

  She nodded, her eyes on the flagstones at her feet, as she led him out of the kitchen and into the house proper.

  Tapestries lined the passageways, the colours increasingly vibrant, until they reached a richly carved door. Gerel knocked, then pushed the door open. "The man you sent for, m'lord," she said, gesturing for Vasco to enter.

  The moment Vasco's worn boots touched the carpet inside the room, Gerel closed the door quietly behind him.

  The Lord Steward sat in a throne-like chair raised up on a dais facing the door. Almost like a king, though the man's bald head bore no crown. His clothes were a mix of scarlet, purple and yellow silk, an eye-watering combination in any light, let alone a chamber filled with lit torches.

  "What makes you think you can solve the mystery not even the king can solve?" the man asked.

  Vasco bowed low, racking his brain for an answer that would satisfy the man. Something
in Gerel's words struck him. "I am different to the others," he said.

  The Lord Steward snorted. "Very well. You have three days to bring me a solution, or you die. I will present you to the princesses and – "

  "Three days or die?" Vasco blurted out. Kun had neglected to mention this part.

  And yet…

  Since the day his village burned, he had gambled his life in every battle. At the end of each fighting day, either he or his enemies would lie on the battlefield to be food for crows. As a guard, he would need to be willing to lay down his life to defend his master and the master's family. How was this any different?

  The Lord Steward made an impatient noise in his throat. "If I do not believe you are doing your best to uncover the mystery, it could be less than three days. My primary care is for the princesses, and if I hear a whisper of any untoward behaviour, or that you are wasting my time, your time will be up." He rose to his feet, smirking as though he liked the way he towered over Vasco from his high platform. "So, are you wasting my time now, or do you wish to meet the princesses? At one word from me, I can have you executed before you can draw breath to protest."

  Vasco had no choice. At least his body would not become food for crows, and his death would be quick. Small comfort if he failed, but he did not mean to. "I would be honoured if you would present me to the ladies of the house," he said.

  The man clapped his hands. "Excellent. But first, you must dress properly. The princesses will not allow you anywhere near them looking like some peasant." When Gerel cracked open the door, the Lord Steward said, "Take him to the guest dressing room and see that he is dressed."

  Hoping he wouldn't have to wear the same garish colours as the Lord Steward, Vasco followed Gerel out.

  Eighteen

  The other girls didn't even glance up from their dinner, but Bianca couldn't tear her eyes away from the man who stepped into the room. Her fingers itched to stroke his black silk tunic. It certainly wasn't made for him